


Peer Review

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: Max Steel (TV 2013), Max Steel - All Media Types
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: S01E06 CYTRO Attacks, Gen, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5523788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steel has a bit of a harder time getting over his jealousy than Max does...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peer Review

**Author's Note:**

> Un-Beta'd. As always all mistakes are mine. Please point them out so I can fix them.

"About that long chat‒"

Forge smothers a smile as Berto cuts him off. "Hey! We both know I didn't lose anything. That goopanoid _stole_ it. That's why there was that big streak of gak on my servo storage." Forge grabbed Berto's illustrating finger and covered his mouth to stem the flow of needless words.

"I know." Forge grinned indulgently, pulling the boy in for a hug.

Berto stood stiffly for a moment before relaxing, trembling. Pushing aside the smell of mint and apples that clung to the teen's damp hair, Forge breathed in the scent of the single most important thing ‒ person ‒ in his life. He fought back his own set of shakes; someone had invaded his home and threatened his family. They lived the lives of warriors, but even warriors had a sanctuary.

"Lo siento, Tio," Berto whispered. Forge denied the apology by pushing a kiss into his ward's hair. The child could be blaming himself for anything. Not figuring out that CYTRO had been hijacked sooner; not anticipating the possibility and having a counter-strategy prefabricated; the failure of the automated security system to stop the goopanoids; that the slimy little monsters had gained access in the first place… Who secures their water-waste system? NTEK would, now, but really.

It was best to direct Berto's worries in a productive direction. "You are supposed to report all new weapons, or upgrades to weapons, immediately." Forge held Berto's gaze, ensuring the young genius understood exactly what he was accountable for. "That means before you show them off to Max."

"Somebody say my name?"

Forge almost groaned at the ill-timed entrance of his nephew. Berto actually did. That was surprising.

"I'm sure he wasn't talking about _you_. I mean, why would a genius like Berto need to show off to a simpleton like you?"

Oh. Not so surprising, then.

Forge quickly kissed Berto's temple while the new arrivals bickered, receiving a surly look. "Take them and… whatever. Just not in my office." He hesitated for a moment over the deliberately sly expression on his youngest agent's face. "Or the isolation vaults." Berto's grin spread. He turned quickly, grabbing Max's arm and dragging the younger boy into the corridor.

Instead of floating along with them, Steel flew over to conspire with Forge. Which was frankly ridiculous.

"You know, it might not be good for them to be spending so much time together."

Forge didn't let the living machine continue. "I think it's great."

Steel made a confused bleep. For a moment, Forge flashed back to a different time, when that sound was common. Then, everything about humans had been new for Steel, and quite a few things about Ja'em had surprised him as well. It had been funny to watch the aliens discover Earth and her people. It was probably for the best that the UltraLink didn't remember how hard Forge had laughed that time with the light socket.

"How can you think it's 'great'? Doesn’t Berto have better things to do than watch bad movies and eat junk food?" Forge suppressed a sigh as the memories faded, drowned out by Steel's current personality.

"Berto has _nothing_ better to do. He's nineteen: He _needs_ to act like it sometimes. More often. He needs to burn off energy and shake out his personality. He needs to be less secret agent and more high school-er. With Max, he does that."

"I don't understand. How is acting like Max good for Berto?" Steel really does sound like he's thinking about it. Progress. "Max is kind of a jerk."

Forge snorted. "Sometimes." He took a deep breath, quickly ordering his thoughts. "Humans learn to be people by experience. Thanks to people like Jefferson, Berto is remarkably personable for a genius. Unfortunately that isn't the same as being well socialized. Max is a good social experience for Berto."

"Ah… O-kay. If you say so." Steel, clearly more confused than he started and giving up because of it, went to fly off.

"Look at it this way," Forge recouped the alien's attention. "You're currently experiencing rampaging jealousy. Next time you'll handle it better, but that has nothing to do with talking to me. It has to do with realizing that your relationship with Berto isn't threatened by his relationship with Max. Which will only happen once you live through it."

Steel didn't respond for a long moment, hovering silently. Forge felt sorry for the little guy. He somehow doubted that UltraLinks experienced puberty, but he shared biology and ‒ no matter how unaware they seemed to be ‒ mental space with Max. The bleed-over appeared to be pretty intense. Steel had always been a bit on the aloof side, but very amiable.

"Is that supposed to make me _feel better_?" Now he was also… well, _adolescent_.

At least this time Forge found it kind of funny. "Nope."

**Author's Note:**

> A little bit of Papa Forge/Baby Berto and a little bit of awkward alien teenagers. Obviously everything works out in the end, or the next episode would have been very different.


End file.
